8.4.1 Matrix allocation

The functions for allocating memory to a matrix follow the style of
malloc and free. They also perform their own error
checking. If there is insufficient memory available to allocate a matrix
then the functions call the GSL error handler (with an error number of
GSL_ENOMEM) in addition to returning a null pointer. Thus if you
use the library error handler to abort your program then it isn’t
necessary to check every alloc.

Function: gsl_matrix *gsl_matrix_alloc(size_t n1, size_t n2)

This function creates a matrix of size n1 rows by n2
columns, returning a pointer to a newly initialized matrix struct. A new
block is allocated for the elements of the matrix, and stored in the
block component of the matrix struct. The block is “owned” by the
matrix, and will be deallocated when the matrix is deallocated.

Function: gsl_matrix *gsl_matrix_calloc(size_t n1, size_t n2)

This function allocates memory for a matrix of size n1 rows by
n2 columns and initializes all the elements of the matrix to zero.

Function: voidgsl_matrix_free(gsl_matrix * m)

This function frees a previously allocated matrix m. If the
matrix was created using gsl_matrix_alloc then the block
underlying the matrix will also be deallocated. If the matrix has
been created from another object then the memory is still owned by
that object and will not be deallocated.